A joint policy proposal for an open Internet — Posted by Alan Davidson, Google director of public policy and Tom Tauke, Verizon executive vice president of public affairs, policy, and communications — The original architects of the Internet got the big things right.

Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse — So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it. News of this deal broke this week, sparking a public outcry that's seen hundreds of thousands of Internet users calling …

Hewlett Took a P.R. Firm's Advice in the Hurd Case — SAN FRANCISCO — As the career of Hewlett-Packard's chief executive Mark V. Hurd hung in the balance, a public relations specialist convinced the company's directors that H.P. would endure months of humiliation if accusations of sexual harassment …

Google Agonizes on Privacy as Ad World Vaults Ahead — A confidential, seven-page Google Inc. “vision statement” shows the information-age giant in a deep round of soul-searching over a basic question: How far should it go in profiting from its crown jewels—the vast trove of data it possesses about people's activities?

Twitter Is Hiring, And In A Really Awesome Way — As we wrote earlier this morning, Twitter seems to be aggressively hiring. Perhaps it's this awesome Rushmore-inspired “Meet The Class Of Twitter HQ” video compelling people to join the flock? — Highlights: The “sudo make me a website” …

South Korea Police Raid Google Office — SEOUL — The South Korean police raided the offices of Google Korea on Tuesday as part of an investigation into whether the company illegally collected and stored personal wireless data. — The U.S. search and advertising titan is already facing lawsuits …

Coffee shops are taking Wi-Fi off the menu — To stimulate sales, coffeehouses are pulling the plug on the Net. — Dan and Nathalie Drozdenko say some come to their Downbeat Cafe because of Wi-Fi's absence. — Reporting from San Francisco — Housed in an old San Francisco warehouse …

Why Twitter's New Deceased User's Policy Isn't Good Enough — Twitter today posted a new policy entitled “How to Contact Twitter About a Deceased User” (possibly at the suggestion of social media marketer Adele McAlear or a not-so recent Gizmodo post?), and while we think it's absolutely fantastic …

Wowd Introduces a Filtered Facebook, Result Not Wowing — Social search company Wowd has introduced a new tool for advanced Facebook search, and it's a desktop app. Actually, it's a desktop app that runs in your browser..but more on that later. — What Wowd promises is a tool to “filter Facebook.”

Seesmic Desktop 2 Beta - with Twitter User Streams — Ready to go for a ride on real-time? Then hop on board! Twitter recently announced a preview release of the User Streams API allowing you to receive data to your desktop client in real-time. We're excited about the recent offering …

Fluther launches ‘Federated’: Q&A for any site — Questions-and-answers service Fluther is unveiling a new platform on Monday that lets companies integrate the Fluther community, and its real-time Q&A interface into their Web sites. — The platform, which is called Federated Fluther …

Saudi Arabia Lets RIM Continue BlackBerry Services — Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) — Saudi Arabia allowed Research In Motion Ltd. to continue BlackBerry messaging services while asking the Canadian company to put in place a system that will let the kingdom monitor user data.